Secrets
by Nanie-san
Summary: Voldemort has risen, Dumbledore's dead, the Ministry is in Chaos, McGonagall leads the Order and must choose Hogwart's fate, Harry wants revenge, and Draco's running from Voldemort.
1. Letter to McGonagall

**A/N: **This is my first Harry Potter fiction and I hope that you like it!

And special thanks to Miatzu for correcting my spelling of Ginny's name, it was most appreciated! (I'm an idiot for messing up the spelling...)

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter of any of the other characters or the original story line for that matter, the wonderful J. K. Rowling does.

**Claimer: **The plot for this fiction just so happens to be mine.

**Chapter 1: Letter to McGonagall**

Harry sat in the living room watching the news, yet again listening to see if Voldemort had tried to harm any muggles yet.

The Dursley's had left to take Dudley to the amusement park an hour ago, leaving Harry all by himself. They had locked Harry in his room, though Harry had remembered that back in his second year at Hogwarts Fred and George had been able to pick his lock with a hairpin and so he had tried to do the same. After ten minutes of struggling with the lock he had finally succeeded. And so now he sat downstairs all alone watching the news to see if Voldemort had started to terrorize the muggle world yet. Though so far nothing seemed to happen that wasn't normal. Even in the wizarding world things seemed to be doing fine, or at least that's what his friend Ron had said in his last letter.

Harry was happy, he had only been with the Dursley's for a week and was going to be leaving that night. Ron had sent an owl earlier saying that he would be picking him up that night to take him to The Burrow and he could remain there until Fleur and Bill's wedding.

He hadn't told the Dursley's yet that he would be leaving. Though he had received an owl from Hermione saying that it would be unsafe to return to 12 Grimmauld Place. She had said that Dumbledore had been their Secret-Keeper and since he was dead any wizard that pleased could enter into it.

Harry jumped as he heard the Dursley's car park in the driveway.

"They shouldn't be back yet!" he thought. "They only left an hour ago!" Harry quickly turned off the TV and raced up to his room, jumping every other stair. He locked his door and then pulled it closed behind him. "That was close," he murmured as he heard the Dursley's opening up the front door.

His Uncle Vernon stormed up to Harry's room and unlocked the lock.

"Why are you back so early," Harry asked, hoping that the question wouldn't annoy Uncle Vernon.

"The amusement park was closed for maintenance, not that _you _should care," he replied.

"Umm... Uncle Vernon, I was wondering if I could go to stay with Ron for the rest of the summer, he's already invited me and I need to respon_d_ soon before they come here for me out of worry."

Harry could see his statement already working, Uncle Vernon would have to decide now or he'd have even more wizards running around his house. If he said "no" he'd have Harry for another seven weeks, but if he said "yes" he wouldn't have to see Harry ever again, because once Harry turned seventeen he'd be of age and free to leave the Dursley's for forever.

"Fine! And they bloody well had better not come out of the fireplace or any other suspicious way!" roared Uncle Vernon at last.

"Great, I'll go write Ron now!" said Harry excitedly. Actually, he had already written to Ron saying that he could come. He was now going off to write to McGonagall about number twelve Grimmauld Place, he had an idea but they all would have to be quick.

He ran over to his desk and quickly opened one of the draws and took out a piece of parchment, a quill, and some ink and began to write his letter.

_Professor McGonagall,_

_I was wondering about 12 Grimmauld Place and Snape. Due to Professor Dumbledore's death Snape could easily tell anyone about it and so on and anyone could enter it. I was wondering if we could choose a new secret and start up meetings there again. Lord Voldemort wouldn't suspect_ _us starting meetings there again if he knows about it, though if Snape hasn't told him of it yet then it would help that he remains unable to tell. Also, where should I commanded Kreacher to stay at? When I next see him I shall also forbid him to speak of the Order to anyone except a few of the more trusted members._

_Also, I'm going over to The Burrow later today so you'll be able to find me there. Will Hogwarts be opening again this year after what happened? Dumbledore would have liked it if it did, and now that I'm thinking more clearly I would like to spend another year there if it opens also. Even if there aren't as many students there still would be some and Dumbledore would keep it open for them. I could also restart the DA if needed, many students like Neville benefitted greatly from it. _

_Sincerely,_

_Harry Potter _

"There," said Harry to himself after reading the letter over, "that should do it. I wonder how the Aurors are doing? Have they caught anyone yet? The _Daily Prophet_ didn't mention anything... but someone like McGonagall could be making them stay silent."

Harry took Hedwig out of her cage and tied the letter to her leg. "Take this to Professor McGonagall, it's got to go to her and is very important, okay," he said and smiled as Hedwig nipped at his finger affectionately and then flew off. Harry fingered the fake Horcrux that was in his pocket. Who was R. A. B.? And also, the day the found it Dumbledore had said to Madam Rosemerta that he was going for a drink and had said to Malfoy that he had did as he said and gone for a drink, did this mean that Dumbledore had known how to get at it? Maybe Dumbledore had been there before, that would explain how he knew that he wouldn't want to drink the potion once he started and how he knew exactly where to go and what to do. Though it wouldn't explain how R. A. B. had gotten the Horcrux, unless the A. in R. A. B. stood for Albus and R. A. B. was a trio and Dumbledore didn't want Harry to know that...

Harry shook his head, all this thinking was confusing him, though he would bring it up with Ron and Hermione later. The thought of being with them (and Ginny) made him excited, though he wondered what would happen between him and Ginny after last year when he broke up with her. He still loved her so much, though he couldn't put her in danger.

**A/N:** Well I hoped that you liked it. Next chapter is gonna be about Voldemort, Snape, and Draco probably. (Honestly, what kind of parents would name there son Draco!)

I know that this chapter is a bit dull but the next ones should be better. (I plan to write ch. 2 today. I'll post it either today or tomorrow... Review and tell me which! More reviews quicker update and longer chapters, this chapter is only three pages size 12 font which is kinda short for me so... next one will probably be five pages unless it takes less pages, but I usually try to make my chapters five pages...)

Nanie-san


	2. Draco

**A/N: **And so I return! (With chapter 2!)

**Disclaimer: **J. K. Rowling, the wonderful weaver of words, it the one who owns Harry Potter and all of it's characters. That being said it's time to begin the story!

**Chapter 2: Draco**

_He was running, running as fast as he could to the Room of Requirement. Dumbledore was dead, he had failed to kill him, but he was dead none the less. Snape had been behind him but just left to fight with Potter, leaving him to make it out of the school on his own. He dreaded what would happen when the Dark Lord would find out of his failure, he was sure that death would await him. He ran to the area and watched as the door appeared and ran through it and over to the vanishing cabinet that awaited him. He flung the door to the cabinet open and ran through it and found himself in the shop of Borgin and Burkes._

_He was scared, deathly scared, and even more so when he felt a cold hand grab his shoulder. He turned instantly to see Snape behind him and was relieved that it wasn't someone like McGonagall. _

"_Come, Draco, the Dark Lord awaits us. The others that are left will catch up shortly," droned Snape's cold voice._

_The boy nodded, fear still coursing through his veins. Everything was lost, all was hopeless, he was going to die, the Dark Lord would punish him. He looked down at his shoes, his blond bangs covering his eyes._

"_Borgin, speak naught of this if you wish to live to see daylight ever again," droned Snape's cold voice again as he lifted the left sleeve_ _of his robes and shirt and revealed_ _the dark mark upon his left arm. Borgin had hastily nodded, his fear of the Dark Lord not only betrayed by his eyes but by his actions also. The man was cowering in fear behind his desk, too afraid to even speak._

_The boy could feel the cold hand let go of his shoulder and grasp his arm. He figured that they were leaving the store through Apparition and found that he was right._

"_He's here, My Lord, though as you know he failed miserably." _

_Snape's cold voice echoed through the room and the boy could hear the sobs of a woman, his mother. The other Death Eaters pretended that the woman wasn't there, but none the less the boy heard the sobs of his mother, Narcissa._

"_Don't kill him! Please, My Lord, don't kill him!" she wailed._

"_But punishment is only fit for him. After all he did fail," said the man that many witches and wizards knew as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, or as _The Prophet _called him Lord Thingy, or as a few witches and wizards dared call him, Lord Voldemort. "Crucio," said the cruel voice as a thin smile crossed his lips._

_The boy fell to the floor writhing and screaming in pain. _

"_Now then, with that as only a taste of what's in store, are you ready for what's coming?" asked the Dark Lord. "...I'll take your defiant lack of an answer as an insult to me. Death Eaters, you may now all turn your wands on him and repeat after me, 'crucio'."_

_The boy screamed louder as pain again erupted through his body, only this time multiplied by twenty. Why couldn't he just die? Suddenly he felt the pain begin to leave and realized that the Death Eaters had lowered their wands and that the Dark Lord was talking._

"_Now then, Draco, are you ready to die. I don't think it will hurt, but then, how would I know?" asked the icy voice. "Oh will you shut up already, Narcissa, Silencio."_

_The woman's sobs ceased as her sobs struggled against the charm._

_Draco was scared, he didn't want to die. He knew that there was a door behind him, if only he could pull it off. "Petrificus Totalus!" he yelled while turning and running towards the door before he could even think about what he was doing. He heard shouts and screams behind him but continued running. He had no idea of who he had hit or of what was going on behind him or of who was following him, all he knew was that he had to keep running. He felt something hit his side and looked down and saw his own red blood flowing freely from an open wound that someone had created. He held his arm out behind him and yelled out "stupefy!" He didn't know if he had hit anyone or not but he kept yelling it over and over again. He then took to running and finding a place to hide. He felt a curse hit his left ankle and stumbled, hitting the ground face first while pain exploded through his ankle. He rolled onto his back, sat up and saw about fifteen Death Eaters including Snape following him. "Stupefy! Petrificus Totalus!" he yelled while aiming his wand at a few before he felt a hard boot collide with his chest pushing him onto the ground._

_He gasped in pain and whispered "impedimenta" while pointing his wand an the man who was half standing on him. The man went flying and Draco forced himself to stand and again run. He felt something hit him against his right leg and a quick glance told him that he was bleeding there also. He held his wand behind him again and yelled out "impedimenta, petrificus totalus, stupefy" while hoping that at least one of his attacks would hit one of the Death-Eaters._

_He heard voices that sounded like Bellatrix's and Snape's shout out and found himself flying through the air with pain searing through his back. He felt his lower chest hit into a metal-like pole. He was falling through the air and pain was exploding through his right arm and head as he hit the ground. _

_Two warm hands grabbed him and he moaned in pain as the person rolled him so that he was lying on his back. He opened his eyes half way to find Alastor Moody looking down at him. He closed his eyes again and everything went black._

Draco woke up breathing heavily. He tried to sit up though fell back as his body exploded with pain. He looked around to see Cornelius Fudge standing to his right and Alasor Moody standing to his left. He was about to speak but Fudge cut him off.

"It seems," said the voice of the Minister of Magic, "that you and are responsible for attempted murder of Albus Dumbledore and with Death Eater activity. This place that you see right now is a room in a boat that is headed for Azkaban (which is now being guarded by a few aurors seeing as most of the dementors left). You will remain there for ten days and then someone will come to pick you up to take you to the Ministry of Magic. You've probably figured out why you're going there, unless you're stupider than we think you to be."

"Also," added Moody, "it seems that you've sustained quite a few injuries from the Death Eaters. Those don't seem to be healing quite as well as they should be, we did have a healer look at them yesterday though she can't seem to heal them all with just a few simple charms and such. She said to give her a few days to brew up a good potion to use. Until then you'll just have to wait and stand the pain."

"Joy, thought Draco sarcastically."So what have you done with my wand?" he asked coldly, not really expecting either of them to answer.

"It's right here and remaining with me until after a decision's reached on what's to be done with you," responded Moody, much to Draco's surprise.

"We're here," said Fudge suddenly

Draco forced himself to sit and then tried to stand but found himself instead found that his legs wouldn't support him and two pairs of hands grabbing him before he fell completely to the floor.

"You might not want to try to stand yet," said Fudge cheerily. "Oh, and we've gotten you a cell far from of your father's."

Draco looked down at the ground, he was secretly glad that he didn't have to be near his father. He never really liked the cruel man and didn't want to have to be near to him. If he were near him he'd probably end up insulted (if his father wasn't near one of the few dementors that was there) over either not perfect grades, not being smarter than Granger, or most likely how pathetic he was for not killing Dumbledore and ending up in Azkaban and not dead for defying the Dark Lord's orders. He knew that his father didn't have his wand, meaning that he couldn't really hurt him, but still he didn't feel like another round of his father's insults. (Or, for that matter, seeing his father in general. He also didn't want to be near one of the dementors but at the moment that seemed preferable over his father (who must have bribed the ministry to not have any dementors near him by the sounds of what Moody was muttering to Fudge who was trying his best to ignore and not hear the man's words).

After ten long days of agony, in which he got to see every memory that he hated thanks to one of the few dementors that Azkaban had left that was right near his cell, Draco looked up as he heard the voice of Professor McGonagall say his name.

"Malfoy, it would be time for you to leave for your hearing at the Ministry."

He nodded and let the woman talk with one of the aurors there and then watched and the auror muttered something that made his cell door spring open.

Draco sat in his cell, waiting for the Headmistress to come and fetch him. He had, earlier, tried to stand though found that he still had trouble putting all of his weight on his legs.

McGonagall took out her want and levitated the boy, annoyed that he wouldn't even try to stand. "Now then, you'll need to improve that attitude of yours before you enter into the Minsitry, Malfoy, unless you wish to annoy everyone there and end up in Azkaban until the day that you die.

It wasn't long before Draco walked (with the help of McGonagall) into the room that Fudge had selected. He looked scared as the chair he sat in suddenly was holding him in place. He didn't pay much attention as Fudge took role.

"Now then, Malfoy, you are being accused of being a Death Eater and intentionally attempting murder. According to Harry Potter, who is not present, at an encounter in Madam Malkin's when she attempted to raise the left sleeve on you robe you didn't allow her. And you know the Dark Mark, the mark of the Death Eaters, is located on their left arm. Potter says that he also witnessed you attempt to murder Dumbledore, get scared and then Severus Snape come and finish the job. Please explain all that you can. The more that you say means the more that there is us to judge by."

"Minister," said Professor McGonagall, "might I suggest you allow the boy the use of a potion to dull the pain that he's in and perhaps another one called Veritaserum to ensure that it's the truth that this boy's telling us.'

Draco looked up at the Minister, his pale face only becoming paler. Then he rolled up his left sleeve, revealing his arm without a trace of the dark mark and then did the same with his right. "I had hurt my arm and didn't want Potter, Weasley, and Granger to see that I had when we were getting robes. My father was with _him_ and wanted me to get the dark mark but I refused. And then the Dark Lord, if you don't mind me calling him that, threatened to kill me and my family if I didn't kill Dumbledore. The day that Moody found me I was running from the Dark Lordand his group of Death Eaters that were trying to kill me. Had the Dark Lord not ordered that I try to kill Professor Dumbledore and threatened my family I would not have attempted to kill him."

"First I must say that you still returned to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and second I must say that only Death Eaters call him the Dark Lord," said Fudge.

"I returned because Snape took me to _him_, do you think I _wanted_ to return to my death? And secondly I know that only the Death Eaters call him the Dark Lord, but so did Dumbledore so why can't I? As for the more I say, back at Hogwarts my father had the losers Crabe and Goyle trailing me all the time supposedly as friends. Mostly it was to at first assure that I didn't befriend any _muggles_ as you so call them and then later to assure that I was working on the Dark Lord's plan for me to kill Dumbledore. Basically my point in being that both of them are Death Eaters, if you look you could see that they both bear the dark mark upon their left arms."

"Excuse me, Minister," said a short witch who had just walked into the room, "but I have brought Veritaserum and also a pain relieving potion for the boy. Also, the healer says she's almost finished the potion to heal the boy's injuries, until then here's a list of them."

"Well I'd almost say that the healer wants us to take pity on you due to you being hurt. Anyway we'll give you the Veritaserum and if you've been telling the truth then you'll get you pain reliever," smirked Fudge as he materialized a cup of water and dropped three drops of the Veritaserum into the cup. "Drink this," he said while walking over to Draco and holding out the cup.

"That be much easier to do, _sir_, if this chair weren't holding my arms down," Draco sneered.

"Oh, right," muttered the Minister as he waved his wand and the chair released Draco's left arm.

Draco took the cup and drank it's contents.

"Now then, Draco Malfoy, have you been telling us the truth?" inquired the Minister with glee, it looked as though he was hoping that he would get to throw Lucius' son back into Azkaban. His smile fell off of his face soon though, for Draco had said yes, that he had been telling them the truth.

"W-well then..." stammered the Minister, clearly shocked.

"Well then I know where we can send the boy," interrupted McGonagall, "seeing as he is innocent."

**A/N: **Well, well, well, do you wonder where Draco's going to be sent? Three guesses where... Anyway this chapter's six pages and not as good as I planned it to be, but from here on it should be better, much better.

Nanie-san


	3. Short Lived Celebration

**A/N: **Alas, the crazy author that is myself returns with chapter 3. I also shall answer to reviewers this time too (actually I plan to do that from now on...)

**Disclaimer: **Alas, the wonderful J. K. Rowling owns Harry Potter and the characters. All I own are my copies of the books and my ideas that I shall be putting forth into this piece of fiction. (Checks Ebay to see if J. K. Rowling is selling Harry Potter to anybody and only sees the books.) And now to all of my reviewers from chapters one and two.

**Miatzu:** Thanks for your review on chapter one and correcting my spelling. (I'm such an idiot for messing up Ginny's name.)

**Sweet Poison:** Don't worry, I don't plan to do a lusty fic, it'll be love and maybe even fluff... (I'm not perfect in the romance area so forgive me if I totally suck at portraying it... I've never been in love or had a boyfriend so I'm not sure how it all works...) Also, at the beginning I do plan to do some love stuff the way J. K. Rowling seems to be planning it...

**likecrisis: **I don't know who R. A. B. is, though I believe it's a trio of people. I believe that the A stands for Albus (Dumbledore)... Perhaps R is Remus (Lupin) or perhaps some other character... But I do think Dumbledore is a part of it since he told Madam Rosemerta that he was going for a drink and he told Harry what should happen to him once he drank the liquid and was sure that it wasn't poison. (And also because he knew where to look, how to get there, how directly to get to the horcrux, exct...

**Miss Extraordinary: **First, I'm really surprised that you read my fic, only because I kinda look at you as above that... (Because you're so good and such.) I'm sorry that the beginning is sorta like that of yours, though the whole story will be different. (The reason the beginning is sorta the same is because that remains my ideas on what would happen. Mostly Harry is with the Dursley's because he isn't yet 17. He turns 17 over the summer and Dumbledore wanted him to return for his protection. And yes, very risky letter, but let's remember that Harry's kinda a risky person... As for Draco and Snape returning to the Lord Voldemort, I kinda think that's what Snape would make Draco do... since they leave Hogwarts quickly and Snape is practically pushing Draco the whole way, and since the killing of Dumbledore is done where else have they to go. Neither are going to go to the Ministry for sure... And as for the Cruciatus Curse, I kinda thought that that's what Lord Voldemort would do to Draco right off. (My older sister just said that she thought so also... why's she always reading what I'm typing over my back, it makes me nervous... but I do like it when she occasionally reads and reviews my stories.) Lord Voldemort's not exactly known for mercy and he decided to do that to Harry before trying to kill him in the fourth book. I think that he would want to hurt Draco before killing him and such, and then Narcissa would be indirectly hurt too. And she's a sobbing wreck because she is at the beginning of book six and it seems with Lucius in jail and Draco facing death that she'd be like that. As for why Draco's not insane or dead due to the Cruciatus Curse... Well it wasn't Avada Kedavara so it wouldn't kill him... and I don't think that he was under it long enough to go insane, besides that would ruin the plot if that happened. And as for Dumbledore being the Secret-Keeper that seemed right since Dumbledore was the only wizard that Lord Voldemort actually feared. (And also he was the strongest wizard too...) Well onto the chapter now that I've spent 1 1/5 pages on answering reviews!

**Chapter 3: Short Lived Celebration**

Harry smiled, he had just finished packing and was ready to return to the burrow. He listened and grinned even wider when he heard the doorbell ring. He ran down the stairs and lingered near the door as Uncle Vernon made ready to open it.

"Harry, you'll never believe it, earlier this week Moody caught Malfoy! Isn't it great, Harry, Malfoy's in Azkaban!" exclaimed an overly excited Ron as he ran through the door.

"Just think about it, we'll never have to listen to him bothering us ever again!" smiled Hermione with glee while running over to hug Harry. "Oh, and Hedwig's at Ron's waiting for you with a letter from McGonagall. It seems important though we didn't open it or bring it. Actually I haven't been to Ron's yet, he just told me. My parents are taking us. I was on my way and so Ron came to my house through Flu Powder and then we set off for here. My parents are going to take us to The Burrow, of what I hear Mr. Weasley is ecstatic because he'll get to meet them again."

Uncle Vernon stood transfixed with his mouth hanging open as the two teens raced through the door and over to Harry. Though his expression did change when he saw what looked like two civilized ordinary people walking towards him.

"Oh, Uncle Vernon, I'm leaving with Hermione's parents now. They'll take me back to Ho- _school_," Harry quickly changed his word, he'd almost said Hogwarts, and that would have made Uncle Vernon very mad.

"That's Dudley, isn't it?" asked Hermione while glancing towards Dudley who stood in the doorway with his hands clenched over his overly fat bottom and his mouth tight shut, he still remembered the pig's tail that Hagrid had given him before Harry's first year and the long tongue that he had gotten back in Harry's fourth year when he ate one of Fred and George's candies.

"So then, you're Vernon Dursley. I'm very pleased to meet you, I'm Hermione's mother. You must be so proud of your nephew, since he's a wizard and is attending Hogwarts."

Harry barely managed to contain his look of amusement as Uncle Vernon heard what Hermione's mother said. Uncle Vernon's face was now turning various shades of red and purple in his anger that he was trying to control.

"Yes, yes, very proud of him," he heard Uncle Vernon mutter.

"Well then, Harry, if you're ready, we'll be off," said Ron.

The three teens ran up to Harry's room and carried down his stuff, Harry took the trunk, Hermione took Hedwig, and Ron, taking special care to make sure that his wand was sticking half-way out of his pocket to make the Dursley's scared, carried Harry's Firebolt.

"Hello, you must be Harry, Hermione's told us all about you. Well then, Harry, are you ready, shall we be off!" asked Hermione's father.

"Yes, we're ready, thank you, Mr. Granger," said Harry, who already liked Hermione's parents.

It hadn't taken them too long and before he knew it they were in The Burrow. It wasn't quite supper time yet and so while Hermione's parents talked with Ron's mum (his dad was still at the Ministry working), Harry, Hermione and Ginny went up to Ron's room, which Harry was also going to be staying in.

Hedwig was waiting in Ron's room and nipped affectionately on Harry's finger when he entered into the room. She then stuck out her leg, waiting for Harry to take his letter.

Harry took the letter, opened it, and began to slowly read it, a smile spreading rapidly over his face.

"Well, read it," urged Ron, "we want to know what McGonagall says too!"

"Here, I'll read it aloud," said Hermione and Harry handed her the letter.

"Harry,

Concerning number twelve Grimmauld Place, we shall arrange for a new Secret-Keeper, though it would be unwise to begin meetings there again right away. I shall meet you soon and then we shall discuss who the Secret-Keeper shall be. According to Mr. Malfoy Snape hadn't told Lord Voldemort anything when he was there. Mr. Malfoy seemed to stir-up quite the bit commotion between Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters leaving Snape no time to tell anything concerning headquarters to Lord Voldemort. We believe that Snape has not seen Lord Voldemort since then due to many aurors that we've had chasing after him.

As for Hogwarts, it shall be reopening it's doors, letters saying that shall be sent to the students later this month. I do plan to have a proper Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher by then, though I feel that the DA would be a very great thing to continue. You have my full permission to assemble it's members and anyone else who wishes to join. I think even perhaps a few teachers may wish to join in a few meetings if that's alright.

Also, with or without Ministry permission, we shall do as the fake Moody (Crouch) did and put students under the Imperius Curse so that they may fend off any Death Eaters that may try to put them under it.

As for Kreacher, tell him that he's not to tell anyone, outside of a select few in the Order that you trust, about the Order and it's doings. Have a wonderful summer. Oh, and try not to send such risky letters from now on, it would be bad if they fell into the wrong hands. I shall see you shortly to discuss other matters.

Sincerely,

Professor McGonagall,

Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"Now then," said Ron merrily while grabbing four bottles of butterbeer from underneath his bed, "let's celebrate shall we! I begged Fred and George until I convinced them to bring these while we were gone and store them under my bed."

Harry grinned as he grabbed the warm bottle of butterbeer.

"To our happy reunion here," said Ron while lifting his bottle into the air.

"Cheers," said Harry, Ginny and Hermione at the same time while they lifted their bottles in the air and all four clunked off of each other.

"To a Malfoy-free year at Hogwarts!" exclaimed Ron merrily, lifting his bottle again while Harry grinned, Hermione smiled and Ginny jumped up and down with glee.

"Cheers!" exclaimed Hermione while high-fiving with Ginny.

"Definitely cheers!" nodded Ginny excitedly.

"Cheers!" finished Harry and then the quartet clanged their bottles together and then drank deeply from them laughing and remembering fun times at Hogwarts making fun of Malfoy, sneaking into Hogsmead, and pulling stuff past Filch.

Ginny sat by Harry. "You know," she said, "that since Lord V-Voldemort isn't here right now and we are celebrating... well... just once more could... never mind..."

Harry looked over, he knew what Ginny wanted, and just this once would be fine, just to make the day better. He submitted into his desire and leaned over, his lips meeting Ginny's.

Ron looked away, he didn't want to ruin the moment for his sister and best friend. After all, with Voldemort at large, this would be the last time that they'd share a moment like that for a long, long time, if not forever.

"Come on, let's head downstairs, I can hear you're mum calling for us, it's supper time," said Hermione suddenly.

Harry and Ginny broke their kiss, the both of them blushing and looking at their feet as they headed down towards the kitchen.

The group sat around the table, Harry noticed that Fred and George were there, as were Charlie, Bill and Fleur. Percy was missing, he must still be avoiding Mrs. Weasley. Looking around, Harry also noticed that Mr. Weasley also wasn't there.

"Hello, sorry I'm late. The horror of it all! I can't believe it!" raged Mr. Weasley as he entered through the door into the house.

"Umm, what's wrong?" asked Hermione timidly.

"Hermione! You're here! I didn't notice, I'm so sorry! And Harry, you're here too!" exclaimed Mr. Weasley, his mood suddenly starting to improve.

"So then, what's wrong? What happened?" inquired Harry, now more curious then ever, if something was really wrong Professor McGonagall would have told him, right?"

"Malfoy, Draco Malfoy! At his hearing he was found to be innocent! INNOCENT! Can you believe that! The Ministry found no trace of the Dark Mark on either of his arms and it seems that Professor McGonagall convinced them that the boy was acting under the force of Lord V-V-... oh Lord Thingy! She convinced them that Dumbledore would have forgiven him and they under the same pressure would have done the same thing! And that it wasn't really him that killed Dumbledore so he really did no harm other than letting Death Eaters into the school and disarming Dumbledore. The ministry can't yell at a student over a disarming charm and as for the Death Eaters it goes back into the category of force."

"I thought McGonagall was on our side!" exclaimed Ron.

"You mean to say that that git got himself out of Azkaban, Dad!" exclaimed Fred and George at the same time.

"Yes, and now McGonagall's devising a way to keep him "safe" seeing as Lord Thingy is after his life," muttered Mr. Weasley.

"No, Dad, it's 'U Know Poo'," said Fred while he and George grinned.

"Do you think that perhaps Malfoy might be able to tell the Ministry anything about Lord Voldemort's whereabouts? Or what his Death Eaters are planing?" asked Hermione.

"Be realistic, Hermione, do you really think that Malfoy would help out in the fight against Lor- I mean, 'U Know Poo'. That git probably won't do a thing," said Ron.

"Under force he may, remember, he's a complete coward," said Hermione matter-of-factly.

Ginny listened to what everyone was saying, her cheer from earlier now gone.

"Enough now kids, it's time to eat before your food gets cold," said Mrs. Weasley. "I'm sure that Professor McGonagall knows what she's doing."

"I wonder where she's gonna hide Malfoy if Lord V-Voldemort and his Death Eaters are after him," said Hermione, she still had trouble saying the name "Voldemort", though she was getting better.

"Darn, that means that Hogwarts won't be Malfoy-free," said Ginny suddenly, her face falling. "Remind me to hex him later." Neither Mrs. Weasley or Mr. Weasley scolded her, both pretended not to hear, giving her all permission to.

"Though according to Malfoy, who had taken Veritaserum, both Crabe and Goyle are Death Eaters and have the Dark Mark. They have been since the day before the attack. Apparently after further questioning from McGonagall after the hearing was over the two of them left through the vanishing cabinets and went to meet Lord Thingy," said Mr. Weasley.

"Dad, how many times do we have to tell you, it's 'You Know Poo'!" exclaimed George.

"Honesty, the both of you, you're going to be killed in you sleep with that sign up!" exclaimed Mrs. Weasley suddenly while Fred and George grinned at her.

"Don't worry, Mum, we've got special protections around our room," said Fred.

"Yeah, anyone with the read Dark Mark who comes near is gonna end up in a mess of hexes," added George.

"Mrs. Weasley this food is wonderful!" exclaimed Harry as he began his second helping of food. "Really, it's so much better than what the Dursley's have been giving me. It actually tastes like food!"

"What exactly _have_ the Dursley's been giving you, Harry, because thinking of it you do look rather thin," said Hermione worriedly.

"Well Dudley's been into boxing since the beginning of our fifth year so Aunt Petunia wants him on a good diet of healthy food. She's been giving him stuff like fruit and sandwiches and so on but on special occasions making him stuff like bacon or cake and such. I've been only getting one fifth of a piece of grapefruit for ever meal.

"Eat up then, Harry dear, you'll need your strength this year. And even if it was only for a week, one fifth of a piece of grapefruit isn't very much," smiled Mrs. Weasley.

Harry smiled, he loved staying in The Burrow.

"Oh, and Harry, after the wedding, you're welcome to stay here if you don't want to return to the Dursley's or do something like go to Grimmauld Place. I know that you'll be of age by then, but if you'd like to stay here for a bit... well... We do have a Secret-Keeper now, so Voldemort couldn't get you here..."

Harry grinned while hearing Mrs. Weasley's words and jumped up and hugged her.

"I'd love to stay! That is, if you don't mind. It'd be wonderful!" he exclaimed. He hadn't really though of what he'd do once he was of age and where he'd live, the Dursley's would kick him out immediately for sure (that's why he took all of his stuff that he wanted with him). He could return to number twelve Grimmauld Place once they, no, once _he_ got a Secret-Keeper, but even then it wouldn't be entirely safe since Snape knew of it. But The Burrow had always felt like home to him. Harry grinned.

**A/N: **Hey, I didn't reveal where Draco's gonna stay, three points for me! (Three guesses where, really... it's gonna be good!) Well review and I'll update as soon as I can. I would have updated sooner but I was busy all weekend and yesterday too. And I've also been kinda caught up in stuff through out Monday and Tuesday also... Well review please! I know that this chapter is kinda dull, but I'll try to make the next one better (and I'll let you know where Draco ends up in the end!)

Nanie-san


	4. Bad Day

**A/N: **And so, after a mere few hours (and a James Bond movie), I return yet again to the computer to type chapter 4. Also, this is no longer going to be a romance fiction. There will be fluff and stuff but I'm not sure between who yet, I'm kinda gonna play it by ear. Mostly because today I got some new ideas that work better with romance on the side, similar to the way J. K. Rowling threw in romance but not quite. Sorry for any disappointment that I may have made.

**Disclaimer: **I only own my own ideas and copies of books one through six. J. K. Rowling is the wonderful creator of the series and owns it.

**Shadows of Anonymity**: In chapter 1 Harry and Hermione didn't go to the Dursley's with Harry as stated at the end of book 6 because of the Dursley's. Mostly they didn't wanna upset Uncle Vernon the family and of course what sleeping space would they stay in, Harry's room is much too small.

Also, I'm not really making Draco misunderstood, more like rebellious in a sense... sorta. Perhaps misunderstood. I'm not really sure what I'm doing with him, though I will say I don't plan on killing him, really that would kill the plot... probably.

**Chapter 4: Bad Day**

Draco scowled as Moody, Tonks, and Professor McGonagall led him through the muggle world, the nerve of McGonagall. The group stopped in front of a house and McGonagall went ahead of the group and knocked on the door. A large man appeared at the door along with his bony wife and rather large son, who was wider than he was tall. Upon seeing McGonagall the man's face took on a scowl and it seemed that as she talked he looked rather scared.

It seemed that despite his anger at the Headmistress he had been convinced. A flicker of pain crossed Draco's face as he felt Moody and Tonks walk towards the house. The two of them were both supporting a good share of his weight so he couldn't really complain to either of them lest he wanted them to instantly drop him on the ground, and he had the impression that both would do so give the slightest hint of a chance.

The two led him through the door (McGonagall in the very lead much to the large man's displeasure) and around up a set of stairs and then into a small room in which Moody and Tonks (mostly Tonks) pushed him onto a bed, which wasn't that comfortable. He looked around the room, it was rather small with only a bed, a small closet and a small desk on which stood a lamp.

"Now then, Mr. Malfoy," he heard the Headmistress say, "you will be staying here until I find a better place for you. You need not fear Lord Voldemort, this place has a Secret-Keeper now so he can't harm you."

"What about Mother, have your _oh so great_ auror's found any trace of her yet?" Draco scowled.

"Mr. Malfoy, you will be the first to know if any traces of her whereabouts appear, until then I advise that you _be patient_ and _be good. _Also, though I'm leaving you your wand I highly advise that you don't use any magic unless the situation is dire, elstwise you may alert Lord Voldemort of the vicinity of in which your residing in. Don't worry though, you should only be here for another three weeks if all goes well, if not the latest you'll be here is until school starts. Goodbye, Mr. Malfoy, have a pleasant summer," said McGonagall in her usual stern voice.

Draco scowled at her words, _him _have a _good_ summer when he was stuck living with _muggles._

"Also, all healing potions and such are right here, I have instructions attached of when you're to take each and how much at a time. If anything major should arise send and owl. If it's to immediate for an owl I'm sure I'll already know, if not figure something out," said McGonagall with a twinkle in her eyes that reminded Draco of Dumbledore's twinkly eyes. "Oh, and your trunk is inside of the closet if you need anything from it. I shall come to take you for your school books when your booklists come."

"And Malfoy, if you think you'll need to know you're at number four Privet Drive with the Dursley's. They've kindly agreed to take you in for a bit so you'd better be good, especially since they're muggles, if I hear that you're making a commotion I can guarantee a few hexes and howlers will be sent your way," added Tonks with a smirk.

Draco watched grimly as Tonks, Moody, and Professor McGonagall all Apparated with a loud 'crack', leaving him to the people that he was to stay with.

He looked over and saw a fat face poking through the door, looking at him.

"What the bloody h--- do you want?" he asked irritated, though he wasn't surprised that the boy was staring at him, he must look a wreck. His clothes were dirty, torn and bloody. He was also pretty sure that blood and dirt were all through his hair. "Well, if you don't have any reason to be here I'll hex you."

The boy looked at him, smirking. "That woman said that you weren't allowed to use magic. You're one of the people at that school that Harry goes to, aren't you?"

"Not to bright are you, mudblood," said Draco, even more annoyed than he had been before. "So these are the mudbloods that Potter stays with," he thought to himself grimly while closing his eyes. He watched as the boy lamely tried to figure out what sort of a word mudblood was and weather to take it as an insult or a compliment.

"You know while you're here you'd better listen to everything that I say, or I'll beat you up. And by the looks of things you don't really have that much muscle, whereas I'm junior boxing champion. You're just some weird punk," smirked Dudley again.

Draco opened an eye and looked at the boy standing now beside the bed that he was on, he vaguely wondered what boxing was... "Oh, and you're a _mudblood_ and I'm a _pureblood_ making you inferior to me in every way." Despite his words Draco really didn't want to end up being the boy's punching bag.

"Father, he threatened to hex me!" complained the boy when his father passed. The meaty man walked into the room and towered over Draco.

"You!" he roared, "had better not do a thing to my son! You're here on our hospitality and had better be grateful for it. You will call me _Uncle Vernon_, her _Aunt Petunia_, and him _Dudley_. And you'd better not even so much as mention that ruddy school that you go to. While you're here everyone thinks that you're an acquaintance of Harry's from St. Brutus's Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys! You hear, not a mention of that school that you go to!"

"You mean _Hogwarts School of_-" began Draco, but he was cut off as Uncle Vernon grabbed the front of his shirt and lifted him into the air.

"You will never mention that under our roof!" spat Uncle Vernon as his face flushed with anger and turned various shades of red and purple.

Draco felt scared and pressed his lips shut, he would not portray fear to them, they were mudbloods, he was greater than them. His body hit the bed hard as the man dropped him and abruptly turned and marched out the door, followed by his son.

"Finally," thought Draco.

A woman poked her long, horsey face through the door. "Oh, and if you sleep through breakfast don't expect anything until lunch. And before breakfast tomorrow you'd better shower. If any dirt or blood (she looked slightly disgusted as she said this) gets over my floor or chairs consider yourself dead," she said and then turned and shut the door behind her.

"Whatever," thought Draco as he closed his eyes and sleep consumed him. He awoke to pain throbbing through his head and body. He looked at the clock on the desk and it read 6:00 A.M. He forced himself to sit and then stand. He felt his legs tremble beneath him and then fell to the floor. Slowly he crawled towards the closet and opened the door. He pulled his trunk from it, moaning quietly as pain seared through his arms as he did so, and then opened it. He pulled out an outfit and then yet again tried to stand, using the closet door to support most of his weight.

After a few minutes he had made it into the hallway. He looked up and saw "Aunt Petunia" walking down the hallway. "The bathroom's that way at the end of the hall," she said, pointing to a door at the end of the hall, "and do make sure that you're clean before you come down. And you'd better be able to do your own laundry."

Draco nodded at the woman, actually he'd never done laundry before in his life and had no clue of how to. He limped the rest of the way to the bathroom, leaning against the wall for support.

He had made it there, and then taken a warm bath, taking care to wash all the dried blood and dirt out of his hair and off his body. He then emerged, forty five minutes after he entered, clean and dressed in a pair of clean clothes. He had his hair styled the same way as he did in his third year and all the years since then.

He made his way back to his room and threw his dirty clothes into the bottom of the closet. He collapsed onto the bed and laid there catching his breath for a few minutes before he glanced over at the number of potions sitting on the desk that was next to the bed. He was supposed to drink one cup of one and a half cup of another at seven. He grabbed the measuring cup that McGonagall had left by the bottles and slowly measured out a cup of the first potion and then laid down again, drifting off into a light sleep. He woke shortly after and the clock read 6:59 A. M.

"Close enough," he thought while taking the cup that he had measured earlier. He drank it's contents, trying very hard not to spit it out and then measured out a half cup of the other potion, it tasted even fouler than the first.

He felt tired and laid back on the bed, soon he was asleep again. When he awoke hours later after a fitful sleep the clock read 1:00 A. M. and Dudley was standing near the bed again.

"Darn, I missed both breakfast and lunch," Draco thought, he was hungry though he felt he need not tell any of these mudbloods. And to top it off the taste of the potions he drank was still in his mouth.

"What the bloody h do you want?" he asked Dudley, tiredness sounding through his voice.

"One, don't talk to _me _like that, and two, I was just wondering if you're the slightest bit hungry, seeing as you missed supper yesterday and both breakfast and lunch today," said Dudley tauntingly while munching on a piece of cake. "And three," he added with an extra edge of triumph in his voice, "what all the _screaming_ and _crying_ was about."

Draco glared at the boy. "First, I owe you no answers and may talk with you in whatever way I please, and secondly, I did not scream nor did I cry."

Dudley smirked, his gaze full of contempt. "You were crying, feel your face, that's why it's all wet. And you were screaming, I heard you."

"Like I care," responded Draco with a glare that rivaled Snape's. A punch met his jaw and he felt his body hit against the wall, he moaned as fresh pain surged through his body, making all his injuries hurt even worse.

"Sissy boy," taunted Dudley as he walked out of the room slamming the door behind him. Draco scowled and picked up another potion.

He forced himself to drink the foul potion and then limped over to his trunk. He opened it and after digging for a moment pulled out three chocolate frogs. He tore the wrappers off of them and ate them quickly, glad that the flavor of chocolate replaced the flavor (if you could call it that) of the potion.

Many miles away in The Burrow Harry was speaking with Hermione, Ron and Ginny.

"Dad said that McGonagall decided to send Malfoy to stay with muggles! Can you believe that, Malfoy living amongst muggles!" Ginny exclaimed.

Harry, Ron and Hermione laughed as they heard this, each one imagining how Malfoy must be reacting.

"Oh, but you haven't heard the best of it," Ginny gleefully said with a bigger grin appearing on her face. "Malfoy's living in number four Privet Drive with the Dursley's!"

Ron and Harry burst into new rounds of laughter.

"Really, from the way that you describe them I can hardly imagine how McGonagall convinced them to let Malfoy stay," said Hermione.

"Yeah, a git like him it's really a wonder!" exclaimed Ron.

"She probably threatened to hex them, or maybe she did hex them... You know, if Malfoy wasn't an enemy I'd almost feel sorry for him, but really I don't," said Harry, he was still furious at Malfoy even if it wasn't entirely his fault that Dumbledore died. It was mostly his fault though, since he let the Death Eaters in and started up all the commotion. Though thinking about it, it all traced back to Voldemort, giving Harry only one more reason to hate Voldemort and wish to kill him.

A loud cracking sound was heard and the quartet quickly all stopped laughing and turned to see their visitor. "Mr. Potter," said the voice of Professor McGonagall, "you must decide your Secret-Keeper now! Urgency is important. The aurors have just lost all track of Snape and fear that soon he shall meet with Lord Voldemort. Quickly you must choose someone!"

Ten minutes later number twelve Grimmauld Place had a Secret-Keeper.

Harry, then remembering Kreacher, quickly called his house elf, who immediately began to diss Harry.

"Kreacher, shut up!" commanded Harry. The elf was silent. "I want you to mention to no one other than myself of everything that took place inside number twelve Grimmauld Place ever since members of the Order of the Phoenix entered into there."

The elf looked for a loop-hole and bowed it's head in misery when it found none.

"Go back to the kitchen at Hogwarts' now," commanded Harry. The elf Disapparated. "Goodbye and good riddance," mumbled Harry, much to Hermione's displeasure.

"I've got an idea!" exclaimed Ron after supper and he ran up to his room.

Twenty minutes later Draco received a letter. He had just finished spending a miserable supper with the Dursley's who had pretended that he didn't exist through it, with exception at the beginning in which Uncle Vernon had yelled at Harry for not showing up for breakfast or lunch after Petunia had taken the time to cook for him.

An owl was perched on his window. Draco walked over to it and instantly recognized it as "pig", Wesley's owl. He grabbed the piece of parchment from it's leg and read it.

_Malfoy,_

_Greetings from The Burrow! How was Azkaban, were the dementors nice to you? Too bad they didn't give you a kiss, really I was looking forward to a year at Hogwarts without you, it would have made the school nicer. _

_Honestly, what sort of a spell did you cast on Fudge and the rest of the Ministry in order to make them not send you back to Azkaban._

_And remember your manners at the Dursley's. Over there you'll have to quite acting like a git and actually drop your obnoxious ego if you wanna survive. I do hope Dudley punches you. And remember, no magic talk (unlike here where we aren't amongst muggles)._

_Sincerely,_

_Ron Weasley_

Draco threw the letter to the floor, it was really the last thing that he needed. He then picked it up and took a separate piece of parchment from his trunk and a quill and ink as well.

_Weasley,_

_1. I didn't cast any spell on the Ministry._

_2. I'm not a git. You are. Potter is. The mudblood is._

_3. You've got your wish, Dudley did punch me, happy?_

_4. Say hello to the mudblood for me. (And Potter as well so he doesn't feel left out._

_5. I'm going to hex you next time I see you._

_Draco Malfoy_

Draco tied the letter to the owl's leg and pushed it through the window. He then opened up the two potions that he had to take. Judging by the tastes of the first three these two were going to taste horrid. This time he had a chocolate frog sitting on the desk waiting for him. He drank the two quickly and then began to eat the chocolate slowly, savoring the flavor. He laid down on the bed and again fell into a fitful sleep.

**A/N: **Well it's another so-so chapter... not as good as I expected it to be... but it was a quick update. And I do realize that I didn't mention who the Secret-Keeper is, I did that on purpose. Also, as of now I have 71 hits but only 8 reviews... it would be nice if those who read would review, even if it's a short review or expressing dislike to my story. Well review and I'll update soon!

Nanie-san


	5. Banging Bounces

**A/N: **I return, with only 1 review by Lameth Mornefea (and for all the hits I see a few more reviews would be nice... or at least more than just one). Anyway I do thank you for your review and I'm not sure how Draco will turn out after his time with the Dursley's... Really I'll have to think about that, when I started getting new ideas I didn't plan out everything (like this). Well on with the chapter now!

**Disclaimer:** Harry Potter (the series and the character) do not belong to me.

**Chapter 5: Banging Bounces**

Hermione smiled as she awoke to another wonderful day in The Burrow. She ran over to her trunk while tugging off her nightgown and then pulled on a pair of jeans and a pink t-shirt. She also grabbed a fair sized package from her trunk that was wrapped in red and gold stripped paper.

She walked over to Ginny's bed and gently shook the younger girl until she woke.

"Ginny, I've got a present for you," she said, her excitement for the girl's reaction showing in her voice.

Ginny rolled over sleepily in her bed before opening her eyes, squinting against the sunlight coming in through the window.

"Mmm? What is it?" she asked while yawning. "Did something happen? Has Ron disappeared overnight? Am I free of him?"

"Not yet, Ginny, not yet..." Hermione answered while smiling. "Actually I've got a present for you that I hope you'll like."

Ginny's eyes opened up quickly as she bolted out of bed while trying to pull off her second-hand nightgown and pull on her clothes for the day. Finally, after she was dressed and had her hair brushed moderately, she ran back to Hermione.

Hermione grinned and thrust the wrapped package into Ginny's arms. Ginny tore off the paper excitedly and smiled when she saw what was inside.

"They're not brand new, I've worn them already but I've kept them in good condition and they should be preferable to the robes that you have now. And they should fit, too," Hermione said.

"Oh, thank you!" exclaimed Ginny with glee as she threw her arms around Hermione and then preceded to try them on.

"Mum, Mum, look what Hermione gave me!" she shouted while running down the stairs with one of the robes on and the other three in her arms.

Mrs. Weasley smiled as she watched Ginny come down the stairs. "Oh you shouldn't have," she said to Hermione, who in turn smiled.

"It really wasn't much, Mrs. Weasley," Hermione said, "they don't fit me any more, but they should still be in perfect condition and fit Ginny perfectly."

"Mrs. Weasley, where are Fred and George?" asked Ginny suddenly, realizing that the twins weren't there.

"They're at their shop working, mentioned wanting to go in for the day and sell some stuff and check-up on business," said the plump woman.

"Mum, could we, that is, Harry, Hermione, Ginny, and I go to Diagon Alley to Fred and George's shop today?" asked Ron. "Please, we'd promise to be good and all."

"What do you need from their shop that you can't get later once we go for all of your supplies?" asked Mrs. Weasley, somehow she sensed that her son was going in order to get into some sort of trouble...

"Well I was thinking of getting a few more of the spell-checking quills and perhaps write a few letters to classmates... like Neville! Or Lavender!"

"Mrs. Weasley, if you'd let us go, I'd also like to try and find a store that sells parchment, ink and pens, I'd like to write another letter to Viktor, but I'm kinda low on ink and parchment," said Hermione, though she really had no clue up until then that Ron was going to ask if they could go and say that she'd like to go to Fred and George's shop.

"Well I guess that that can't wait," said Mrs. Weasley with a certain bit of anxiety in her voice. "But you four will have to stick together and promise to come back here if anything should start to happen. And you have to eat breakfast first!"

Ron grinned and began to quickly wolf down his breakfast. Once he finished he ran up to his room and grabbed the small bit of money that he had. A half hour later everyone else had finished eating and getting their money.

"Fred! George!" exclaimed Ginny as she landed in the fireplace in their shop, "it's so good to see you, guess what, Hermione gave me her old robes so I now have robes that fit me and look new! The Slytherines won't be able to laugh at me over my robes now!"

"Brilliant!" said George.

"Wonderful! So do you want to buy anything to hex the Slytherines that ever dare to make fun of you?" asked Fred.

"You know, that'd be pretty nice," interrupted Ron.

"He was talking to me, Ron," said a frustrated Ginny. "I'd love something to make him disappear!"

Behind Ron, Ginny, Fred and George stood Hermione and Harry, who were now watching as they watched the brother and sister argue.

"Really we should stop them before Ginny hexes him," said Hermione between giggles.

"Nah, let them be for this once. With Voldemort risen there won't be many more moments like this, Hogwarts will probably be really serious and such now. We'll always have to be working extra hard."

"You mean that you don't already? I always work extra hard, you really should too," said Hermione matter-of-factly.

"Honestly, Hermione, how many people at Hogwarts actually work their hardest? Almost nobody puts in as much work as you do, with exception of some of the Ravenclaws," said Ron, suddenly turning from Ginny to her.

"Now then, let's start looking around," said Harry quickly to break-up the impending fight. Hermione sighed and Ron looked cross but neither said anything to the other and both looked content after the looked around for a bit. Soon the four were laughing together as Fred and George showed them many new things that they'd invented.

"We would've told you all about our new stuff yesterday, but that didn't seem like such a good time... Today's the perfect day, really, and it's great that you came," said Fred while George nodded.

"Yeah, it is great that we came," agreed Ron, his mind seeming to be concentrating on something else. "I'd like to get some of these," he said pointing to a box labeled _"Banging Bounces_".

"What do those do?" asked Ginny.

"They're little balls that bounce around and make a loud noise every time that they hit into something," said Fred while grinning. "I suspect that they'd drive Filch mad, pity we never got to try them in the halls at Hogwarts."

"And I'd also like another spell-checking quill," added Ron quickly, almost too quickly, like as if he'd forgotten that that was the reason why he came to the joke shop in the first place.

"Really, Ron, you could just learn to spell already," scolded Hermione while Ginny giggled.

"So how many of our _Banging Bounces_ would you like?" asked George. "Three little balls come in each box."

"I'd like three boxes and one quill," said Ron, a look of pure glee written across his face.

"Right that comes to two Galleons," Fred said while grinning (he was very surprised when Ron actually had two Galleons to give him).

"Okay, anything that the rest of you would like?" asked George looking at Hermione, Ginny and Harry.

"Actually I did have an idea of something that you could try to make," said Hermione suddenly. "You made hats that made your head invisible, correct?" Not waiting for an answer she continued, "so could you make something that would make someone's whole body invisible? Something similar to an invisibility cloak, only something different than a cloak, so it couldn't accidently slip and reveal the person beneath. Perhaps invisibility clothes of some sort."

Fred and George looked astonished as they stared at the brunette.

"Why didn't we think of that?" asked the twins at the same time.

"Want something so that you can get into trouble and start having fun, Hermione?" suggested Fred.

"No, I just thought that it would be convenient. Though you would have to monitor who you sell them to and make sure that almost nobody finds out about them so that they don't become common."

"Also know as perfect Hermione Granger wants her own invisibility... Though you're right, it would be a real catastrophe if everyone started running around in them... We'll see what we can do for you," said George while his twin stood behind him nodding.

"Well then, we be off to find a store that sells calligraphy stuff," said Hermione in a business-like tone and then turned to walk out the door as Ron tried to sound out the word "calligraphy".

"There's a great shop for that sort of stuff!" called out Fred as Hermione walked out the door. "It's brand new and just opened a few days ago!"

"It's just a bit down the alley to the left," added George.

"Thanks," Hermione said as she began to walk down the alley with her friends following her.

Harry was impressed as they entered into the store. Lining the walls where were shelves and shelves full of different types of ink, which Hermione began to inspect instantly. There were also shelves full of different types of parchment and quills. A glass case near the clerk's desk was full of sets that came with parchment, ink and quills that worked together nicely.

"Oh look at all of this!" exclaimed Hermione. "Colored ink, disappearing ink, color changing ink, thick ink, thick ink, ink sticks, ink that never runs out, ink to be used on different types of parchment, ink that won't stain clothing, ink that won't get onto your hands-"

Hermione was cut off as Ron showed her a bottle of ink.

"And ink that changes the text of your papers! Imagine what that could do!" exclaimed the red-head. Farther off Harry smiled slightly, Fred and George had mentioned the ink like that to him when they had distracted the girls and Ron with their stuff. They said that they were going to use it to try to make something similar to the Marauder's Map, only they wanted to make one that showed much more than Hogwarts (and that had insults equal to that of the original and perhaps a few compliments for certain individuals that they thought worthy). They said that they'd only make a few copies, perhaps a few for aurors if they worked right, but that they didn't want to make enough that they'd fall into unworthy hands like that of "U Know Poo's".

"Oh and look at the parchment!" exclaimed Hermione excitedly. "They've got stuff that looks old and stuff that looks new for forever and stuff that's dark and light and different textures! It's so wonderful!"

The woman standing behind the counter smiled. "We also have parchment that has special enchantments on it. Some of it makes what's written only visible to the writer and others make everything written disappear. Two young men with a joke shop not far from here took a special interest in that. Told me that it would be wonderful to switch with a professor's parchment. And that stuff over there is very special. It's used for communication over distances. You and a friend rip it in half. Then no matter where you are you write into one end and the person that ripped the other half is able to read what you wrote. Only the two people exchanging messages are able to read them, making it good for secrecy. The Ministry's aurors had taken a special liking to them."

"Could you rip it into three or more pieces?" inquired Hermione curiously.

"Why yes!" said the woman. "Many auror's rip it into many pieces so that they can communicate easier and share leads without having to personally meet one another."

"Wow..." muttered Harry.

"We also have quills with never-ending ink supplies so that you don't have to worry about running out of ink or constantly dipping your quill into an inkwell."

Hermione left the store with both of her arms full. She had gotten some colored ink, a bottle of ink that never ran out, a quill made for quick writers, a quill made for neater calligraphy, a quill that had the never ending ink in it, and then quite a few different types of parchment. Some of it was stuff that'd look brand new for forever, some was textured differently, some had a slightly faded look and she also got some of the parchment that was for communication with a friend that only the people who ripped it could read.

Harry had gotten a few new quills, parchment and ink as had Ginny and Ron (though neither got as much stuff as Hermione had... though Ron had gotten a few more spell-checking quills that would work better than Fred and George's).

"Mum, we've got all the parchment and quills that we'll need for the year," said Ginny as she landed in Mrs. Weasley's fireplace.

"There's a wonderful store for Calligraphy stuff, Mrs. Weasley," said Hermione excitedly. "They've got all sorts of writing stuff there, it's so amazing!"

"Fred and George's shop was cool also, they'd gotten all sorts of new stuff made!" exclaimed Ron.

"Well I'd assume that you lot found all sorts of stuff seeing as how late it is, you've been out past lunch and it's now almost time for supper!" scolded the woman. "Really you must be starving!"

Harry noticed, as she said that, exactly how hungry he really was. He watched as Mrs. Weasley magically set four places on the table and floated food onto the plates.

"Eat up," she ordered. "Then you can go up to your rooms and talk amongst yourselves about what you've found while the rest of us eat."

Ron sped through his meal and hurried up to his room. He quickly began writing a letter and throwing in six of the little balls that he had gotten. His owl was just flying out of his room when Hermione, Harry, and Ginny walked in.

"Ron, might I ask what you intend to use those _Banging Bounces_ for?" asked Hermione. "And who were you writing a letter to? You can't have been serious when you said that you wanted to write a letter to Neville or Lavender earlier, especially after your fight with her last year!"

"Well if you must know I sent a letter to Malfoy with six of the little balls in them, imagine his surprise when they bounce out and the Dursley's reactions!" said Ron in an excited rush.

"Ron! That's horrible!" exclaimed a shocked Hermione. "That's so cruel!"

"Yeah, well he's mean to us!" fired back Ron.

"You're just as bad as he is! Worse!" shouted Hermione as she glared at him. "He's already going through enough with being at the Dursley's and with Voldemort after his life!"

Harry covered Hermione's mouth with his hand before she could continue.

"Listen, I know it's wrong and that you're mad, but we don't need Mrs. Weasley hearing!" he explained in a hushed tone.

Ginny walked up to her brother and did the only thing that occurred to her to do; she slapped him across the face as hard as she could.

"You're rather lucky that Mum's outside and not in here to hear Hermione's screaming, she'd be furious with you," she scolded in a harsh voice. Then, in a gentler voice, she said, "Come on, Hermione, we'll go back to my room now."

Hermione followed the girl, still furious at Ron. "I'm never speaking to him again! I swear it!" she fumed.

"Harry..." muttered Ron, hoping that his best friend wouldn't also yell at him.

"It was as Hermione said, Ron, really horrid."

Ron laid down on his bed, not caring that it wasn't bedtime yet and fell asleep feeling dejected.

Ten o'clock P.M. that night Draco Malfoy lay awake on his bed. He had awoken from another nightmare.

He was standing somewhere, and Voldemort was in front of him, the piercing gaze of his eyes flowing fear into Draco, paralyzing him, making his body go numb, making him scared. The man whispered a word and Draco fell to the ground, going through the painful Cruciatus Curse again and again. And then he awoke screaming and breathing heavy with beads of sweat rolling down his face and neck.

He looked over as he heard something tapping on the window. He got up and let the owl that was making the tapping in. He instantly recognized it as Ronald Weasley's owl, with another letter coming to insult him from the incompetent idiot.

He untied the letter and opened it up. Instantly six little balls flew out and started bouncing off of everything in the room, every time the hit something they let out a loud noise.

"D it!" thought Draco as he quickly tried to catch the balls before their noise would wake the Dursley's. Too late. He could hear Uncle Vernon's footsteps as he walked through the hallway.

**A/N: **Heh heh heh... looks to me like Draco's gonna be in trouble. And like Hermione and Ron are in another one of their infamous fights. Well I do hope that you liked this chapter even if it was a bit dull... Well I'll update soon hopefully, until then I expect a few more reviews! And after 306 hits it's kinda sad that I've only got 9 reviews in total... (Band camp meeting tonight and band camp starts tomorrow, yay!) Review!

Nanie-san


	6. Problems and Ideas

**A/N:** I think Harry ought to thank me... originally when I started I debated have Draco and him at the Dursley's at the same time, making Harry's stay there longer and more miserable than usual. (I only decided against it due to events at the end of book 6...)

**Miss Extraordinary: **Thanks for the review, though I do still feel that you're a better author than I.

**Lameth Mornefa:** Yes, Ron definitely is the world's biggest git. Or at least something like that, he's not especially nice when it comes to matters concerning Malfoy. (Though he does _try _to be nice to Hermione, making it a real wonder why through the books they've fought so much.)

**Nikelodean:** I'm glad that you look forward to reading more!

**Sun Kissed Rose: **Yeah, in this story Ron really is such a git. Have fun with your first year of high school. Where I go to high school it's not to bad, a bit stressing though. (Eight grade was in the high school at the school I was at before the one I'm at now. It wasn't as great because a good share of the other students were gits, but there were quite a few nice people and my friends there which made it pleasant enough.)

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter series and characters belong to J. K. Rowling.

**Chapter 6:** **Problems and Ideas**

Draco had managed to grab three of the balls before Vernon Dursley had burst into his room and lunged at him. He had tried to dodge the lunge towards him but ended up tripping and while doing so the three balls that he was holding flew out of his hand... and hit the overly large man, two directly to the face and one to the neck, each making a large banging sound as they hit off of the man and then the rest of the room.

Shortly after (about two seconds) Dudley had appeared at the door wondering what all the noise was. His face lit up when he exclaimed and pointed out the obvious; Draco was going to be in massive trouble. After pointing that out he noticed his father, who was jumping around the room on one foot, clutching his other where one of the balls had hit it, and immediately pursued to seeing that he was alright.

That night Draco ended up sleeping in the broom cupboard under the stairs, after he finished collecting all of the balls and, without any of the Dursleys noticing, sent them all back to Ron.

Off in The Burrow the head of Harry Potter shot up. He quickly stood and bolted to the room that Hermione and Ginny were sharing.

"Hermione," panted Harry, who was out of breath, "I may have just figured something out!"

Hermione and Ginny both looked up at Harry, silent questions being asked by the looks in their eyes.

"Do you remember in our second year when we used the Polyjuice potion?"

Hermione scowled and then slowly nodded her head, Harry could tell she didn't cherish the memory of being turned half cat.

"When Ron and I were with Malfoy he mentioned having very Dark Arts stuff in his manor. He said that it all was kept in a secret chamber below the drawing-room floor! And remember that Lucius Malfoy was the one who gave the first horcrux to you, Ginny," explained Harry in a rush.

Hermione nodded then, catching on. "So you think that Malfoy may be hiding another horcrux or perhaps know where one is," she said.

"Yeah, something like that," agreed Harry.

"So all we've gotta do is trap Draco Malfoy and give him some Veritaserum and then ask him," said Ginny, slightly confused.

"No, Malfoy had said that his father didn't tell him much. He probably doesn't trust Malfoy with the information," said Harry while thinking. "Though we could question him anyway."

"Yeah, we'll just accio him here, and he'll willingly let us tie him up and then drink Veritaserum that we don't have and then we'll proceed question him," said Hermione sarcastically. "Really, we'd do much better to make some and then catch him at Hogwarts sometime. Though he may still not know anything, and the man that would is locked away in Azkaban."

"We're not going to break a Malfoy out of Azkaban, are we?" asked Ginny nervously.

"No," answered Harry, "and I doubt that they'll let us into Azkaban to visit him."

"Besides after his arrest the Ministry searched his manor, right? They've found anything that was there," said Ron from the doorway. "Couldn't sleep," he said after seeing everyone looking at him confused. "And listen, I'm sorry about earlier before you start about that again."

"Ron, isn't that Pig?"

Ron looked at the window that his sister pointed at and saw his owl waiting outside. He ran over and opened the window and then opened up the letter attached to the owl's leg, six balls sprang out and began bouncing around the room making quite a lot of noise.

Quickly the four of them began trying to catch the balls, three hectic minutes later they finished. As they finished Fleur appeared at the door in her nightdress and Charlie appeared a moment afterward, also dressed for bed.

"Mum's gone off to visit Bill at St. Mungo's. Dad came home a bit ago, as you know, but he had to go back to work, urgent call from the Ministry. I was left in charge of you lot," said Charlie. "And Fleur was woken by banging noises and was wondering if anything was wrong."

"What happened, are those our Banging Bounces?" asked Fred as he bounded through the door.

"Brilliant! Though perhaps you should have waited until Hogwarts when you could release them for Filtch!" exclaimed George. "Though your timing was truly brilliant! Dad's gone and Mum has just left!"

Shortly after Fred and George's congratulations were over the crowd disappeared from the doorway to Ginny's room.

"So we're at a dead end now," concluded Hermione, changing the subject back to their discussion before the Banging Bounces.

"Unless we break into Malfoy's Manor," smirked Ginny before Harry could say anything.

"Umm, I feel the same as Ginny does," Harry then said.

"It probably wouldn't be too hard, and if Fred and George make us invisibility stuff..." began Hermione before Ron interrupted her.

"You mean you're not going to try to stop us? You're going to plan it for us? Even though it's illegal and all that," asked Ron, who was clearly stunned.

The brunette looked down, considering the boy's words. "Well..." she finally began, "I don't know... We really shouldn't... and it's not like we'd actually find anything that the Ministry haven't..."

"I thought you weren't talking to him," said Ginny looking over at her troubled friend, who chose that moment to burst out into tears.

"I don't know, I don't know, I don't know! It's all so confusing! What should we do, when should we do it, and, Ron, why are you so immature! I don't know what we're supposed to do!" she sobbed.

"Let's wait off all action until after Bill and Fleur's wedding. And if it helps at all we at least know that both Lucius and Malfoy don't begin with an R, A, or B so we know that he didn't take the horcrux that Professor Dumbledore and I went after," said Harry after carefully considering his words for a few minutes. "Through really it would be funny if we tried to accio Malfoy here, imaging the Dursley's reactions if he suddenly rose into the air and was zooming out of there."

"They'd probably be rejoicing," giggled Ginny.

"L-let's just go to b-bed for tonight and figure it out in the m-m-morning," yawned Ron sleepily.

The group nodded and Ron and Harry headed back to Ron's room, ready for long awaited sleep. Hermione finished the letter to Viktor that she was writing before Harry came and Ginny laid down. All four were ready for a good night's sleep.

Though someone wasn't at all expecting a good night's sleep. That someone was lying down the miserable excuse for a bed that was under the stairs, in the broom cupboard, in the house with the address number four that was on Privet Drive.

Draco wasn't at all expecting a pleasant sleep after the nightmares that he had plaguing him almost every time he laid down to sleep. And if it weren't enough he was out of Chocolate Frogs and all other sorts of chocolate and still had potions to drink. He was starting to feel better but still had to change positions over twenty times each night because the previous was too painful.

"I swear I'm going to hex and then strangle that bloody git the next time I see him," he muttered as he tried to move around in the broom cupboard, which wasn't all that big and had to hold him, his trunk, a makeshift bed and the small bedside table that his five potions rested on top of. ...and that stupid muggle device called a digital clock.

He remembered that when he was running Snape and Potter had gotten into a fight. Potter had been trying to use Cruciatus Curse on Snape. He vaguely wondered why someone like Potter (someone who followed the rules and was always good and couldn't hate) would even attempt the Cruciatus Curse.

He took his potions and fell asleep into a dreamless sleep and awoke before the sun was up. Though he didn't know that, seeing as the broom cupboard didn't have any windows. He drank his potions and then dressed in a pair of baggy black pants with pockets just below the knees and a black t-shirt. Though he knew the Dursley's wouldn't like it he put his wand in the pocket on the right side of his pants, allowing the top two inches to stick out, enough to make them notice it and feel intimidated.

He then proceeded to knock on the locked door until the door opened a crack and the face of Petunia Dursley appeared.

"Might you let me out, _Aunt_ Petunia?" he asked, calling her "aunt" under the orders of Vernon Dursley. He really hated referring to them as if they were family, they were mudbloods, he was a pure-blood. Actually, he wondered why he even listed to the brute of a man.

The woman opened the door though and let him exit. "And you had better be good," she warned.

He looked at her and smirked. "Mudblood," he said defiantly. A look of pure horror crossed her face and Vernon Dursley, appearing behind her, was looking as if expecting someone to break in shouting.

"What did you call me!" Aunt Petunia said in a low, threatening voice.

"Mudblood."

"What in the ruddy h--- does that mean!" boomed Uncle Vernon.

"It's _their_ word for 'dirty blood'," said Aunt Petunia is a whisper. "I heard _her_ mention it. _She_ said that was what other kids sometimes called her."

"You dare call us DIRTY BLOOD boy! You're the one with DIRTY BLOOD!" roared Uncle Vernon.

"Just for you to know, you're Mudbloods, I'm a Pure-Blood and worth more than your whole pathetic lot," said Draco smirking and then forcing a smug look onto his face. Despite his looks he was quite angry and wanted to hex the whole family.

"Pure-blood, that's what they call those of pure wizarding blood," whispered Aunt Petunia.

"Meaning that you, _boy_, have the dirtiest blood of them all!" boomed Uncle Vernon looking victorious. "And just remember who's housing you before you try to get off with insulting us!"

Draco glared at the two and then walked over to the table and sat down. Fifteen long minutes later he at the few pieces of bacon that they gave him for breakfast. He then turned and walked out the door.

"Arrogant b------," muttered Dudley.

"What was that Diddykins?" asked Petunia.

"Nothing mother," responded Dudley.

**A/N: **Well I hope that you like it. And I do realize that Draco wears a lot of black, the color compliments him the best. Well I've gotta go now. By the way, I've just thought of something house elfs can't do, laundry, because that would be giving them clothes.

Nanie-san


	7. The Room of Requirement

**A/N:** I've been busy, tons of after school band, homework and such and then the fact that I live in a family of six all of whom need time on our one computer so... (And I had to work on my story that I'm gonna get published! I've got forty seven pages typed out now! And I also started another but it's just a few pages seeing as I just started it the other night...)

**Important: **Also, if I haven't read anyone's story that I usually read and review for it's nothing against you personally. I had an... err... accident of sorts and had accidentally, I don't know when or how, turned off all of my alerts so yeah... Anyways they're back on now!

**Disclaimer: **No, I don't own Harry Potter. Yes, J. K. Rowling does. Can I get on with the story now?

**Chapter 7: The Room of Requirement**

Draco Malfoy walked down the street, not really knowing where he was going. Somehow he ended up in the darkest alley, it figured. He knew that later he'd have to go back or McGonagall would be after him for sure. Actually he couldn't wait for McGonagall to come and take him away from the hish hole that he was stuck in.

After ten minutes Draco headed back for the Dursley's house, wishing that he had forgotten where it was. As he walked up to the door and found Dudley standing in front of it, blocking his path.

"Get out of my way, mudblood," he said in a low, dangerous tone.

"Don't tell me what to do, remember I'm boxing champion!" sneered Dudley in return.

Draco smirked. "Oh wow, so you can wrap boxes, what a wonderful profession," he said sardonically. "And while you make your living out of that I'll be off in the _wizarding_ world actually doing something worthwhile."

Dudley frowned. "You idiot." He punched Draco, sending the boy tumbling to the ground backwards.

"Dad!" he then screamed, running into the house. "He did it again, he said that awful word!"

Draco scrambled to his feet and ran though the door, he made it inside right before Uncle Vernon slammed the door. Vernon's intention, Draco knew, was to lock him outside.

"You ruddy boy! Could you stoop any lower! What did we tell you about using those bloody words!" shouted the overly fat man, who was purple in face with rage.

Somehow, though he knew not how, Draco managed to survive the next three weeks in the Dursley's care, if you could call it that... Over that time he had only been beaten up by Dudley eighteen times, excluded from supper fifteen times, excluded from lunch ten times, excluded from breakfast seven times, and locked under the cupboard every night and also six times for a whole day. He had also been confined to the house and banned from going outside.

Harry's summer was going better. His birthday had passed with gifts, cake, a celebration and at Fleur and Bill's wedding he had had a wonderful time.

Hermione also was having a good summer. She had been sending many letters to Victor and had received quite a few in return of which had wonderful content for her, though seriously, it made Ron really jealous (all summer) and thus angry with her and even more so with Victor (all summer).

And now, at the moment, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were all sitting in the kitchen eating the lunch that Mrs. Weasley had just made for them.

"Delicious!" exclaimed Hermione while biting into one of the pancakes covered in a thin layer of butter and tasty maple syrup.

Somehow it made her think of Hogwarts and having breakfast there. Her next thought was the antagonist Draco Malfoy. That thought was an interesting one. She was currently trying to figure out how he was fairing with the Dursley's and at this point who was more crazy; Draco Malfoy, Vernon Dursley, Petunia Dursley, or Dudley Dursley.

And truly, at the moment, in Number Four Privet Drive it was hard to tell who was more crazy. The Vernon's had been yelling at Draco because he pointed his wand at Dudley, only because Dudley had just finished using them as a punching bag, and Draco himself was now locked under the cupboard, again, and was to go without any meals for the day.

Then, as Draco Malfoy was sulking, the thing he was least expecting happened; there was a knock at the front door.

Draco was expecting it to be just another one of the Dursley's important guests or one of Dudley's friends. In all end outs it was someone far greater and much more important. Someone that Draco had been waiting for who hadn't come when he wanted her to. Though at the moment he didn't know that.

He sat on the bed and was semi-surprised that he didn't hear any of the Dursley's voices. He was even more surprised when he heard an all too familiar voice, the voice of Professor McGonagall.

He could only imagine the look on the Dursley's faces when they saw her, it must have been hilarious (especially because they'd have to reveal that they had he, Draco Malfoy, locked in the cupboard under the stairs).

He looked at Vernon Dursley's face as the man opened the door, it was splotchy purple and red, he almost laughed.

Then came the curt voice of the Headmistress. "Mr. Malfoy, if you'd please gather your stuff up now we shall leave for Hogwarts." (The Dursley's flinched as she said that...)

Draco nodded and quickly began to throw the few things that were out of his trunk inside of it. In just minutes he was standing outside of the house with his trunk, he was very anxious to leave the muggle London, especially the Dursley's and Number Four Privet Drive.

"You said we're going to Hogwarts, why there? It's not time for school to start yet, we've still got another month."

"Correct, Mr. Malfoy, but you're going to school one month early. We have a room there ready for you and in two weeks when your schedules are passed out someone else or myself will take you to Diagon Alley to get all that you may need."

Draco scowled. "So how are we getting there?" he asked sullenly.

"We're Apparating most of the way. You've practiced it in school so even if your not licensed it won't matter. Are you?"

Draco decided to ignore the Headmistress' question, what was it to her wether he was licensed to apparate or not.

"On the count of three," McGonagall said in her usual strict tone of voice. "One. Two. Three."

Two popping sounds were heard as the witch and young wizard disappeared from Number Four Privet Drive and appeared outside of Hogwarts boundaries.

"Good, good," McGonagall said as they appeared. Now then I've already arranged for a carriage to meet us here. It should come any minute now. Ah! There it is!"

Draco entered the carriage and Professor McGonagall followed him. The two rode in silence the rest of the way to Hogwarts.

They entered the school and the Professor led him up to the seventh floor.

"Umm, Professor, the Slytherin dungeon is down there," Draco said hesitantly.

"Who said that we're going there?" asked McGonagall. "I said we had a room arranged for you, not the Slytherin dormitories."

Draco scowled, especially when he realized which room she was leading him to... the room of requirement.

"Well then, Mr. Malfoy, I believe that you know how the room works, you may let yourself in then."

Draco closed his eyes for a minute and then opened them and walked into the room, looking around for anything that he might find interesting.

There was a desk with a lamp on it, a bed, and bookshelf along the wall with various magical books sitting on its shelves.

There was also a closet area for him to put his clothes in and an area for his trunk. On the floor was a rug and a few cushions.

"Interesting..." he muttered while inspecting the room.

Hermione and Harry ran down the stairs as Mr. Weasley got home, with Ginny and Ron close behind them.

"Mr. Weasley, I was wondering, who's more crazy at this point, Malfoy or the people he's with?" blurted out Ron instantly.

"Actually," began Mr. Weasley, "He's moved. He's now somewhere completely different, but it can't be too bad there if Professor McGonagall says the worst he's been complaining about is that the bed has cotton sheets and not silk sheets..."

Ginny and Hermione giggled while Harry and Ron barely suppressed their laughter.

"It's so like Malfoy for him to be complaining over the sheets!" giggled Hermione.

**A/N: **Short, yes, but I've been working on it for a few days, I have a busy schedule so I haven't got much done. However I've gotta leave to catch the school bus in just a few minutes so it's the best I'll be able to post for now. Review please! (And thanks to all of my reviewers from previous times!)


	8. Preparation

**A/N:** Hey, long time no see/write/exct... Anyway sorry that I haven't updated in such a long, long, long time. Some family stuff came up, mostly my grandma going into a nursing home and one of my aunts taking it worse than the others and being mean and all that over it and putting stress on my other aunts and mom so... Anyway I've finally got some time, so here's the chapter.

**My Wonderful Reviewers:**

**Animegirl13:** Thanks for all the words of inspiration! The really made me feel good and brightened my day! Thanks for the review!

**Atara Shira:** Wow, you think hard. (I do try hard...) Hmm... about Snape and the Unbreakable Vow and the Crustacious Curse... Here's where my loophole comes in (I found it one whole minute ago!) "Will you, Severus, watch over my son, Draco, as he attempts to fulfill the Dark Lord's wishes? ... And will you, to the best of your ability, protect him from harm?" (Rowling 36) My loophole lies in the fact that he didn't promise for how long he would watch over Draco and protect him from harm. As for Snape being a good guy... I'm not sure if I want him to be or not, it would make for an interesting twist... (And I just got an idea of how I could do that too)... I'll think on that. When I started this up it was to be romance-y-ish, then it changed to more of how I thought the story would be continued, now it's kinda merging into the two with my own continuation ideas being added. Thanks a ton for your review!

**doom18769:** Romance wise I don't know what it will be yet. It originated as DMHG fic and to make things easier read the last few sentences of the above answer, basically everything's stated there. And thanks for the complement in the review about putting Draco at the Dursley's, it made me feel good! Thanks for your review! (And about looking into names where I mixed them up in previous chapters, well I haven't gotten that far yet, I may edit them later if I have the time, if not then I'll just lead others to confusion...

**Conclusion:** Thanks everybody for your reviews, they made me feel really good and are what is encouraging me to stay up late working on the chapter even if my life feels like confused heck crammed with work. I took the PSAT today so I hope I did well... Anyway onto the story now!

**Disclaimer: **As said many times before, I, the one who goes under the name Nanie-san, do not own Harry Potter.

_Previously:_ _Draco Malfoy ended up staying in the Room of Requirement and was complaining over the sheets being cotton not silk and yadda yadda yadda this whole thing is for my memory so that I can continue the story and is for anyone who may need it._

**Chapter 8: Preparation**

Hermione watched as her friends walked down the to breakfast, looking like they could use another few hours of sleep and some brushes for their hair. She had been up for the past two hours already, working. She had been having trouble sleeping that night and gave up on it two hours earlier.

"Good morning," Hermione said with fake cheer and awakeness in her voice. "Did you sleep well?"

"No," said Ron sleepily, "stupid Pig kept me up all night, he wouldn't shut up..."

"It's all Ron's fault for forgetting to feed him and not letting him out of his cage, so it doesn't really matter. He deserves what he got," Ginny responded. "As for me I slept wonderfully."

"Bloody little witch," Hermione heard Ron mutter. Hermione sighed, sometimes Ron could be so immature.

"Well it could be worse," said Harry, trying to be positive. "Pig could hav-" Harry cut off his sentence as a loud popping noise was heard. "Hello Mr. Weasley," Harry then said while facing the apparated person.

"Dad, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at work?" asked Ginny.

"Yes, I should be at work. I've only stopped by momentarily. The Ministry's in absolute chaos! I won't be by for another week or so, everything's a wreck there! Smoke coming off of the roof, threatening messages over the walls. Moody's group's perusing the culprit now as we speak, hardly anyone's been allowed to leave the Ministry at all! Muggle problems to top it all off..." Mr. Weasly tried to catch his breath as Mrs. Weasley handed him a bottle of butterbeer. After drinking that he ran around like a lunatic waving his wand here and there, sending items flying into his trunk.

"There," he said after a half hour of mad packing. He hurriedly kissed Ron, Ginny, Hermione, and Harry on their foreheads. He rushed over and kissed Mrs. Weasley hurriedly and then disapparated.

Upstairs the Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny were holding council.

"Something bad has to be up at the ministry," Ron said. "Dad mentioned threatening messages, smoke, and Moody all together."

"Trouble's not only there, he mentioned the muggles also," said Ginny.

"What we need to do now is find out what's going on with the muggles. I wonder if anything happened to Petunia and Vernon, maybe that's why they moved Malfoy," said Hermione.

"I hope something's happened to them!" said Ron angrily.

"Maybe Malfoy was moved because they knew someone was after him, like his parents friends," added Harry. "Death Eaters or Voldemort to be specific."

"Maybe, but he was moved before everything started happening," said Hermione. "Though, I do wonder, will Hogwarts be open this year now? Whatever's going on at the ministry could happen at Hogwarts. And after the end of last year, well, the ministry won't want to send student's there will they?"

"Dumbledore would have kept it open as long as possible," Harry said. "Besides, McGonagall said it'd be open!"

"Harry," Hermione said, "that was before the attack on the Ministry. ...Maybe we should do something, something drastic."

"Drastic? Like what, waltz over to the Ministry and say 'Hello, sorry to intrude on you like this, need some help'?" said Ron sarcastically.

"No, drastic like go to Malfoy Manor. The Ministry hasn't done anything to it yet and hasn't discovered anything. You and heard Malfoy, there's stuff there, we could find it!"

"Hermione, you can't be serious!" Ginny exclaimed softly. "If that were coming from Ron, or Fred, George I might believe it, but do you know how many wizarding laws that might break!"

"Yes. Bu-"

"Now'd be the best time," interrupted Harry. "The Ministry's busy enough that it might not notice us."

"Not notice us!" Ron nearly shouted. "They'd probably notice us and we'd just add to their work load!"

"Moody's already busy with other stuff though, and probably so is every other Auror. Dad probably didn't mention everything. Something terribly wrong has gone on there," said Ginny.

"I feel so... so... useless," Harry said weakly. "Everything's going on and we're doing nothing."

"I know how you feel, Harry, I feel the same way too," admitted Ginny.

"So let's do something! No one's going to be at the manor now, right? I mean, Dobby got freed, Draco's somewhere, Lucius is in Azkaban, and Narcissa's been missing ever since the day Moody found Malfoy." Hermione looked almost pleadingly at the group.

"Look, Hermione, I can't wait to expose the Malfoy's for the Dark wizards that they are too, but what if we're caught!" said Ron.

"And what if we're not," argued Hermione stubbornly.

"The Ministry's in the most chaos now. If Fred and George have managed to make anything with invisibility uses aside from their stupid hats then we'll take it and use it. Tonight's the best time, the only time," explained Harry hurriedly.

"Right. But Mum and Dad have that clock, it'll show that we aren't here," Ginny suddenly said nervously.

"We'll put sleeping draught in a cup of tea and take it to her before she goes to bed and say it's for her nerves. Ron'll do it, seeing as he's one of her worst stressers," said Harry.

"Hey!" interrupted Ron angrily, "what do you mean _I_'m one of her worst stressers! That's Fred and George!"

"Whatever," muttered Harry. "But anyway that'll make sure that she's asleep and so to stay for a while. Can you make a sleeping draught quickly, Hermione?"

Hermione nodded. "I'll work on it right away. Is there a place in the house where I could do it at, that no one but us would see?"

Ron, Ginny, and Harry though hard as Hermione went to gather ingredients.

"The closet, Ron's closet," said Ginny as Hermione returned to the room. "It's the safest place, Mum's not likely to be up here less than looking through the closet today. If Fred and George discover it by any weird means we'll just say that you're practicing for school."

Hermione worked with the potion throughout the day. She briefly paused her work only to go down and eat quickly. Ron said she was busy working on a report for McGonagall's class, it was a good enough excuse for Mrs. Weasley.

Harry had mentioned wanting to go to Diagon Alley to get some school supplies that he needed, alongside some gold to get them with. Mrs. Weasley had given him flu powder and sent Ron and Ginny with him to Diagon Alley.

Harry and Ron ran to Gringots. Ginny ran off in a different direction.

"Harry," asked Ron, "why are we here?"

"To get broomsticks." Ron fell silent. Harry quickly removed a pile of gold from the vault and put it into a bag he had broughten with him.

The two left Gringots and headed towards Quality Quddich Supplies. After looking around for a short while Harry purchased three Nimbus 2000s. He cast a shrinking spell on them and put them in his coat pocket. The two headed over to Gringots, Ginny was waiting for them there. The three went back to The Burrow.

Soon night fell and darkness consumed the house.

"M-mum, I've b-brought you a c-cup of t-tea," said Ron nervously while walking into Mrs. Weasley's room. "I-it's not m-much, but Hermione thought that it... that it would help calm your nerves..." Ron desperately hoped that he didn't sound like he was coming to give his mother sleeping draught. He tried to stop the shaking of his hands as he handed the cup to his mother.

"I-I'm sorry for all the t-trouble that I've c-caused in the past," he managed to stutter.

Mrs. Weasley looked up at her son, trying to smile despite the tears that ran down her face.

Ron turned after a minute and walked out the door up to his room. He was shaking by the time he made it there.

"It's gonna be cold tonight," said Harry, "wear a sweater. The Manor, abandoned, isn't going to be warm."

Ron nodded dumbly and began to take off his pajamas and pull on a pair of pants and a shirt and a sweater. He tossed another pair of pants and shirt to Harry, who still had only Dudley's old clothes, aside from the sweaters that Mrs. Weasley had given him for Christmas over the years.

After dressing the two quickly and silently darted over to Ginny's room, where Hermione and Ginny were waiting for them. All four of them were wearing black pants, black shirts and dark sweaters. Hermione had pulled a black scarf over her mouth and nose and had managed to tie her hair back and put it under the hood of her hoodie. Ginny had dressed similarly to Hermione. Hermione mentioned something about getting the idea from ninja. Hermione handed Ron a black hat, which he put over his bright orange hair.

"Ready?" asked Harry.

"As I'll ever be," said Hermione.

"No," responded Ron.

"Yes," Ginny said, somewhat confidently.

Harry suddenly turned and ran back to his trunk in Ron's room. He returned with his broomstick.

"Harry," asked Ginny suddenly, "do you have any clue where Malfoy Manor is?"

Harry took out the three shrunken broomsticks and let Hermione unshrink them. "No," he said, "but Hermione's taken care of that for us."

Hermione held out a torn, wrinkled piece of paper and showed it to Ron. "I found a book in your mum and dad's room that said where it was. I was there the other day, dusting. I decided that we'd need it eventually so I ran to Ginny's room and ripped a bit of parchment off of the scroll that I was using for my Potions essay. I went back down and quickly, magically made a copy of it. I think your dad wanted to raid the Manor sometime soon, because it was near to the top of a pile of other books with Ministry related stuff."

Ron grinned. "Well then, shall we mount our brooms?" he asked. A look of horror flashed across Hermione's face.

"You... want _me_... to fly, to fly a broom!" Hermione looked scared, deathly scared. Harry nodded his head.

Ginny smiled. "It's not that hard," she said. "And only one person per broomstick is best."

"Time to learn to fly, Hermione," said Ron.

Hermione squeezed her eyes shut. She had only been on a broom once before, for class, in her first eyar, because Madam Hooch made her. And even then she was only hovering two inches above the ground.

She mounted the broom carefully. Fear flowed through her veins. She heard Harry, Ron, and Ginny giving her advice. Telling her to quite shaking, to stay steady, to concentrate on what she was doing, and to think that she'd be fine. Finally she kicked off the ground, a bit harder than she expected to. She rose five feet off the ground and screamed, or at least, tried to. No sound came from her mouth. She looked down, Harry was holding his wand out. He had cast the silence spell on her. She glared at him as he reversed the spell.

"Good job, Hermione," said Ron, "you've managed to stay in the air!"

The other three mounted their brooms and kicked off the ground.

"We've have to fly high up so that we aren't seen. Is that all right, Hermione?" Harry asked.

Hermione felt herself nod. Her body felt numb. Somehow, though she didn't know how, she managed to rise up in the air following her friends.

She felt herself nearly fall once or twice but somehow managed to stay on the broomstick. Her arms, back, and legs felt sore after the first ten minutes of flying and her whole body was numb. Frost coated her hair. She shivered.

The group flew downwards and landed on the lawn in front of the main gate. Ron tried to open it.

"It's locked," he said.

"Of course it's locked you idiot," said Hermione, Ron looked offended. "Okay I'm sorry!" she fumed while pulling out her wand. "Alohamora," she said. The gate, surprisingly, opened.

**A/N: **Correction on how to spell Alohomora would be appreciated. I hope you liked it, please forgive me for taking forever! Please review! And thanks for reading! If I have some spare time I'll try to correct mistakes in other chapters like I've been meaning to...

Nanie


	9. The Diary and The Fireplace

**Nanie: **Merry Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, other holidays, and Happy New Year!

(sobs) M-my c-copy of Half B-blood P-Prince i-i-is MISSING! Anyway before I was just going off my own logic that Dumbledore was the Secret Keeper for Grimmauld but I was re-reading Order of the Pheonix and it was mentioning how it had all these charms and spells on it and then Moody so happened to, on page 115, mention that Dumbledore was the Secret Keeper and that the note that enabled Harry to see it was from Dumbledore.

**fieryred: **Thanks for the review for chapter 8!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy, Ronald Weasley, or any of the other characters of the story, they all belong to J. K. Rowling. I own this stories plot, buwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

_Previously: Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny finally decide to go to Malfoy Manor to check under the floor for Dark Arts stuffs. They head off decked out in black with as much skin as possible covered. They travel by broomstick, a means of travel that frightens Hermione. They reach the gates and unlock them using the alohomora spell (I don't know why they didn't just fly over them, it would've been the sensible thing to do...) _

**Chapter 9: The Diary and The Fireplace**

Hermione took a few deep breaths as Harry gently pushed open one of the enormous gates.

"Well, this is it guys," said Harry while drawing in a deep breath, "no backing out now."

Ginny nodded, as if to reassure herself. Ron looked somewhat confident. Hermione...

"Are you sure we're doing the right thing?" Hermione asked in a small voice. "I mean, breaking into the Manor and all... it is breaking laws, isn't it?"

Ron sighed, typical Hermione. "Of course it's breaking laws," he said. "If not someone would've done it already."

"Look, now's no time for regrets," said Ginny solemnly. "Don't you want to expose the Malfoy's for the Dark Wizards they are?"

Hermione nodded. Her friends were right. "Stupid Dragon of Bad Faith," she muttered.

"What was that?" asked Harry and Ron at the same time.

"Dragon of Bad Faith, it's the translation of Draco Malfoy's name," she said matter of factually.

Ron laughed, as did Harry and Ginny.

"Remind me to call him that sometime," said Ron happily.

"Let's just _go_ already," said a rather impatient and anxious Ginny, who then strode through the gates, across the marble path, up the granite stairs, and right to the Malfoy's front door.

"Don't you think that we should use the back door?" asked Ron nervously while he and the others walked up to Ginny. "I mean, anyone passing by could see us here..."

"We could use the window," thought Harry aloud.

"We should have planned this before we came," said Hermione.

"Bit late to worry about that now, isn't it?" Ron said while nodding to himself. "Okay then, back door, back door, back door..."

The group walked off the front porch and strode across the lawn. Hermione staggered slightly, it felt weird walking again after the time she had just spent on a broomstick.

"Do you suppose that they might have some sort of an alarm, to alert them if someone's breaking in?" asked Ron.

"Nonsense," Ginny said confidently, "we've got Hogwarts greatest witch here. You can think of something to check for and disable any sort of alarms, can't you, Hermione?"

Hermione thought for a moment. "I can't really think of an existing spell that I know to work, but I think I could make one up. I studied Latin before joining Hogwarts, and many of the spells come from the Latin language, which is the language of Magic, Ron."

"Sheesh, it's not like I asked for a History of Magic Spells class or anything..." Ron muttered.

"Let me think..." said Hermione while trying to remember her Latin vocabulary. She took a few steps away from the house and pointed her wand at it. She said a few words that Harry, Ron, and Ginny couldn't make out, a blast of blueish green light shot from her wand and hit the house.

"We'll just have to hope that nobody saw that and that it works," she said while walking up to the door. "Alohomora." She beckoned to Ron and Harry. "Gentlemen first."

"Hey! That's unfair," Ron whined.

Harry walked in, followed by Ginny, then Hermione, then Ron. The door creaked shut behind them.

"I hope Narcissa hasn't been hiding out here," said Ginny, suddenly fearful.

The four all pulled out their wands and held them at the ready. "Lumos," they all said at once. Each of their wands lit a blue light at the tip. The four looked around the room.

It was a dark room, with cold wood flooring. Tapestries hung on the wall. There was a fire place, though no fire was lit. There were pictures on the mantel. Cold, velvety chairs were in the room. Rooms branched off of it in three directions. It reminded Harry of the Slytherin dungeons.

Hermione wandered out of the room. Dark objects were hidden under the drawing room floor, and the room she was just in was most definitely not a drawing room. The room she walked into also was dark, and cold. She shivered as she looked around it. Rooms branched from it in three directions also. There was no window in the room. A large picture hung on the wall. From it icy eyes stared at her. The picture was of three people, Lucius, Narcissa, and Draco Malfoy.

Hermione walked a few steps away and then ran through the room branching off to the right. She saw a set of stairs and instantly began climbing them. Vaguely she heard someone following her but didn't bother to see which of the group it was.

She knew she was most definitely going away from the drawing room now, but at the moment didn't care. Her instinct was leading her upstairs and if she'd ever learned one thing from Harry it was follow your instincts.

The stairs led to a long hallway, lined with many doors. She walked down it. She felt scared. It was a feeling in her gut. They left in the night, she was breaking into a cruel and evil wizard's house, her spell could have failed and someone could be on his or her way to capture her, Narcissa Malfoy could be lurking in the house herself, there could be a house elf somewhere, Voldemort himself could be hiding in the house, something terribly bad could happen at The Burrow while they were gone...

Hermione's worries went on and on. Fear ran through her veins. She tried to calm down. Deep breaths weren't helping her very much. She walked over to a door. "Alohamora," she said while pointing her wand at the lock, before even checking to see if the door was locked.

She opened the door and entered into the room. It had a window, covered by deep blue curtains. There was a double bed centered against the wall running parallel to the wall behind Hermione. The bed had crimson, silk covers. The pillow cases were made of black silk. The floor of the room was stone, with a circular, crimson rug beside the bed. There was a closet and two black dressers.

"This must be Lucius and Narcissa's room," Hermione thought. She turned to see who had followed her. She saw noone. Panic flooded through her. It was one of the group that followed her, right? What if it were Narcissa! Was Narcissa here after all? She walked over and opened the closet. Clothes there, and shoes. Nothing dark magic like. She closed the closet door.

She exited the room and looked down and up the hallway. No one there. She held her wand, ready for whatever may be upstairs with her. She closed the door to Lucius and Narcissa's room while keeping all her senses on alert. She walked along the hallway and passed a few doors.

She came to another door. Her instincts urged her towards it. "Alohamora," she said, again not checking to see if the door was even locked first.

She turned the knob and pushed on the door. It opened with a creak. She looked around the room. There was a window seat and huge window. The window was covered by black satin curtains. There was a bed in the corner with deep green silk covers on it. The pillow cases and sheets were silver. The floor was wooden, unlike that of Narcissa and Lucius' room.

There was a closet in the room and a desk. Against another wall was a bookshelf. The room was neat, no clothes or toys or books or anything were covering the floor. Everything was neat and orderly.

"Draco's room," Hermione thought while walking over to the desk. There were books on it also. She walked over to the book shelf and lifted her wand to better see what books were on the shelf. There were books from their previous years and some that she'd never heard of before. The one that caught her attention was a small, thick, black leather book with no title. She pulled it from the shelf.

"What's that?"

Hermione jumped and turned. She held her wand out and then lowered it. "Harry you scared me!" The boy smiled.

"Sorry," Harry said while walking over to Hermione. "So what's that you've got there?"

"I don't know," said Hermione. She thought for a moment. "Harry," she asked, "did you follow me up the stairs?"

"Yes," the boy answered. "Didn't you know it was me?"

Hermione looked relieved. "I heard someone but didn't see who. Then when I turned around and didn't see anyone I thought maybe Narcissa, or someone else, was here."

Hermione opened the book. Scrawled on the first page, in sloppy writing, was a name. "Harry," she said, "this is Malfoy's diary." She held her wand over the writing and she and Harry read;

_Draco Malfoy_

Hermione flipped to a random page.

_11:45 pm September 2, 2004_

_Stupid Potter. He's so stupid. He's in Remedial Potions. Even Crabe and Goyle aren't that stupid. I wish I could ditch the two, but no, I can't! Why? Because Father's friends with their stupid fathers and decided for them to watch over _me_ while I was here. Go figure that I end up having to watch them. Oh well, at least they're stupid enough to do whatever I saw. It amazes me that they can even fly, I was sure they'd be too heavy for the broomsticks to hold up._

_At least Umbridge isn't afraid to punish Potter every time he's out of line. It's so annoying, the way that all the teachers act like Potter's the perfect angel and never punish him. Aside from Snape. But with two out for him Potter will really have to watch out._

_Father mentioned that he'd Crucio me if I didn't take Parkinson to the dance. Parkinson's almost as annoying as Potter is. _

_Draco_

Hermione put the diary into her hoodie pouch. "We'll read it later," she said shakily, "at The Burrow. Until then we have Dark items to find."

Harry almost found himself pitying Draco. Having to go to the dance with Pansy Parkinson must have been bad, especially faking wanting to be with her. And he knew how bad facing the Crustacious Curse was. He followed Hermione out of the room and up the hallway to the stairs that they'd taken up.

"Over here!" said Ginny as she saw Hermione and Harry coming down the stairs. "Ron and I have found the drawing room! We decided to wait for you two before investigating!"

"We found something also," said Harry, "Malfoy's diary."

Ginny jumped in delight. "Come on, follow me! I'll lead you over to Ron and then we can tell him!"

They followed Ginny over through a room and saw Ron sitting on a couch, head lolled to the side, snoozing.

"Ron wake up!" commanded Ginny while walking over to him and slapping him on the side of the face. Ron woke with a start and wrestled Ginny to the floor. Harry laughed.

"Honestly you two," sighed Hermione.

"Ron, Ron, you'll never believe it!" said Ginny excitedly while trying to free herself from her brother. "Hermione and Harry found Malfoy's diary!"

Ron, in shock, let go of his sister. Ginny jumped up and toppled Ron over. "Isn't it great!" she said happily. "We'll be able to find out so much more now!"

"Yeah, let's just work on finding the Dark objects," said Hermione. "Preferably before dawn," she then added after a slight pause.

Hermione got down on her hands and knees and crawled along the floor, feeling for any uneven areas or hinges. "Nothing," she said after a few minutes. "Nothing that hints at any sort of door or passage to beneath the floor."

"So what does that mean?" asked Ron stupidly.

"It means our search is going to be much harder," said Harry.

"Not just much harder, it's going to exceedingly difficult!" Hermione nearly shouted. "Either there's a specific area that must be wedged free and pulled up or there's a hidden passageway somewhere in this mansion!"

"Calm down, would you! Everyone from here to The Burrow can probably hear you!" shouted Ron.

"Quit yelling at Hermione!" shouted Ginny while pushing Ron. Ron stumbled and fell... into the fire place.

Ron screamed he was falling, and falling, and then suddenly hit something that was both cold and hard.

"Ron! Ron! Ron where are you!" screamed a panicking Ginny. She was running around the fireplace frantically trying to find Ron. He had disappeared through it.

Hermione walked over to the fireplace and knelt beside Ginny. Shakily she reached out her right hand and held it out towards the fireplace. She lowered it to the ground and pushed. She nearly screamed. She could only see the upper part of her arm. Her hand and lower arm were gone! She moved her fingers. Wait, she had fingers, meaning...

"Harry, Ginny, the bottom of this fireplace, it's an illusion or something similar to it," she said. "I think it's the way to their stash of Dark items."

Hermione pulled her arm out and slowly pushed her feet in. She pushed off of the ground, holding her wand, and felt herself fall through the fireplace floor.

She could feel solidness around her for a moment, and then she was free falling through the air. She landed, seven feet down later, on a hard, cold, stone floor.

"Lumos," she said and looked around. Ron was standing three feet away from her and smiling. Surrounding them were many shelves, shelves full of magical items.

"Harry! Ginny!" Hermione shouted up. "We found it! It's safe and about a seven foot drop! Come join us!" She watched as Ginny, and then Harry, seemed to fall through the ceiling and then land infront of her.

"Bloody hell," said Ron as he looked at all the shelves again. Harry nodded his head in agreement.

"Don't touch anything," Hermione cautioned. "We don't know what they do or how they're activated."

Ron, who was just about to touch a rather nasty looking piece of something, pulled his hand back.

"So what now?" he asked. Harry, Hermione, and Ginny looked at him confused. "We've found this room, sure, but what now? We don't have pictures of it, we can't just call Ministry officials here (they've got enough trouble of their own), and we can't tell dad how to get here and admit that we were here."

Harry looked over at Ron and then turned towards Hermione. "You're really smart, maybe you can think of something," he said.

Hermione considered their position for a moment. "If Dumbledore were still alive I'd advise we tell him... but he's not..." Hermione thought for a bit longer, blinking back the tears that filled her eyes at the thought of Dumbledore's death. "Maybe we could tell Moody, but he'd probably be mad at us for this..." She thought for a while longer. "I can't think of anything else," she said at last. "We'll have to go back to The Burrow and think it over."

A trace of fear flicked across Ginny's face for a moment. "How are we going to leave here?"

The others' eyes widened as they too realized that they didn't have any clue of how to leave the hidden room.

**Nanie:** Thanks for reading and please review! I hope you liked the chapter!

Nanie-san


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